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Thursday, 26 June 2008 01:01 |
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Everyone enjoys a night out. Days are filled with commitments,
obligations, meetings, errands, chores, and a myriad of other
responsibilities that color our daily lives, even our very
existence. To step back from this cycle of activity and go to a
restaurant, have someone else serve you, cook the meal, wash the
dishes, and clean up is a mini-vacation we all can appreciate.
When you dine out, you can’t leave your good sense or your
healthy eating habits on the wayside, to be picked up when you
return home. It doesn’t make sense to work so hard to attune
yourself to health-wise eating habits, and possibly undue all
the good work with one calorie-laden, overly fat, sugary, and
empty calorie meal. Your heartburn will gladly remind you of
your sins.
When you go to a restaurant, eat smart. There are a few tips so
that you can thoroughly enjoy your evening, and go home
refreshed, relaxed, and in great health. You will have nothing
to be sorry for from a nutrition standpoint and you won’t have
to run the high school track field to get back to the point you
were at before you had dinner “out.”
Salads are great accompaniments to any meal. Ask for your
choice of dressing on the side. This way you are sure you are in
control of the amount that is poured onto the delicious salad
ingredients that should be appreciated for their particular
taste. Two to three teaspoons of dressing on a side-plate salad
is an ample addition to your salad. You can also ask for oil and
vinegar cruets and mix your own dressing.
Avoid foods that are fried, even though fried foods are a tasty
morsel. Choices of roast turkey, broiled chicken, lean ham,
flank steak, broiled shrimp, broiled cod, steamed crab,
spaghetti, are a few very smart choices from a restaurant menu.
You can also sabotage your great decision with a lot of sauces,
or gravies. So just use these as flavor enhancers and not flavor
cover-ups.
Fresh fruit is a great choice for dessert. How about adding
some angel food cake, sherbet, or jello. You can have your
dessert and eat it too.
Eat modest portions and try to appreciate the food’s flavor
without a lot of additional items that take away from its
natural goodness. Fruits and vegetables are taste sensations
when eaten alone, but you can add a few touches to satisfy your
sweet tooth. Also remember that an occasional splurge is nothing
to feel guilty about. Your mind will never tell your stomach, so
it will never know to add those calories to your weight scale.
Enjoy your meal out and have fun with family or friends. You
deserve it! ©Arleen M.Kaptur
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